Simon Doom

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Simon Doom is the grunge-meets-garage-meets-psych rock project of Simon O'Connor, who is also known for his work with Kuroma and Amazing Baby.

O'Connor began working on Simon Doom -- the name he adopted while playing his teenage punk band Thulsa Doom -- in 2014, when he realized the songs he was writing wouldn't sound as good with his other projects. To help flesh out the music, he teamed up with a pair of longtime friends: Guitarist William Flynn (also of Sleepers Work, and formerly of St. Vincent) and bassist Jim Carroll (also of Pure Love, Hope Conspiracy, and Suicide File), whom O'Connor met at guitar camp when they were teens. Apse drummer Brandon Collins and O'Connor's Kuroma bandmate and MGMT collaborator Will Berman fleshed out the lineup, and Simon Doom began playing shows in late 2014. The band went into the studio early in 2015 for separate sessions with MGMT's Ben Goldwasser and the Replacements' Tommy Stinson that resulted in that year's Simon Doom EP. Late that year, O'Connor's wife gave birth to their son, motivating him to put more time and energy into the band while he still had time. The Negotiate with the Monkey arrived in 2016, and the song "Roseate" was featured in the film Frank & Lola. To record 2017's full-length Babyman, O'Connor and company worked with MGMT's Andrew Vanwyngarden and Ben Goldwasser as well as Passion Pit's Ayad Al Adhamy, Anni Rossi, and Tame Impala's Cameron Avery. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi